Beginning on July 11 2011, the Epcot monorail service will stop operation 1 hour after regular park closing, and from August 1 2011, the Magic Kingdom monorail will stop operation 1 hour after regular park closing. This means that in both cases, the monorail will not be able to return guests back to their resorts after evening Extra Magic Hours. Guests will instead be transported by bus and boats where available. Morning Extra Magic Hour service has not been affected. All indications are that this is a permanent change.

Don't get me wrong. The Disney Cast Members deserve to get paid better, but if it's going to come as a cost against the guest then some guests aren't going to like that, and they're going to stop supporting Di$ney Park$ altogether. With these price increases and cutbacks in service, Disney just isn't turning out to what Walt expected it to be, and that's disappointing. I'd say it's time to shut it down.

Now why would I want to shut Disney down? Let's look at the facts:

1> Disney tries to be clever to get people to attend their parks and resorts, and to a lesser extent, their cruise ships. They'll offer free dining, a deal on rooms, but in the end, you're still paying "$tupid Amount$ of Money" for budgetary cutbacks.

2> Smart people like you and me who have an inkling of what goes on "behind the scenes", whether by former cast member "leaks" or investigative reporting, know the truth about Di$ney's operation and how corrupt it can be, which is wrong. Do you really want to pay "$tupid Amount$ of Money" for a corrupt operation like Di$ney?

I believe it was Matt who said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "If you don't like the way Disney is operating, don't go." My plan is to convince 1,000 people not to go to Disney, and have them convince 1,000 of their friends, and those people convince 1,000 of their friends, and so on and so forth. Call it a "reverse Ponzi scheme". If enough people in this world can bring Di$ney to its knees by withholding their support, perhaps the Mouse in Charge will get the message and make Di$ney affordable to everyone and quit catering to the super-rich.

"In an age of fads, copycats, and rapidly changing trends, you have chosen to stand out from the rest and be an individual. We applaud your courage and self-expression. Thanks for being a part of our show today. Don't ever change. The world needs more people with your spirit." - The Citizens of Hollywood

As usual you have a very different view on the situation.
Apart from your statement that employees got a pay raise (not true, not all, I know this first hand). I do not consider myself super-rich and still got my passes for myself and my kids, I still view the entertainment and overall product that Disney offers is way superior to everything else. I see it this way, what can I do with 2 kids on the weekends? I could go to the movies (spend a big chunk of money there) for 2 hours, or go to an amusement park (big ferris wheel, go-karts, spend a big chunk of money there) for another couple of hours. Or pay for an annual pass to WDW where you get in, everything is included, it's a safer enviroment and if you're tight on budget bring your lunch and not have to spend anything else at all.
Second the idea of somenone actually wanting WDW to shut down for good, kinda irritates me, here's why:
you can be angry at management, you can be angry at the corruption (face it, what big, sucessfull company doesn't have that), you can be angry of them raising prices...but wanting WDW to shut down is just plain irresponsible. Do you know the amount of people employeed by this company, in a direct and indirect way? ...thousands! you would put entire families out of a job, WDW is the highest employer in Central Florida, not only that but the services they have for CM are above the rest, their health insurance, their day care, they give CM health checks, mammograms, opportunities to learn new things, classes in different areas...for free.
So in the words of my favorite character of all time, Forrest Gump: "That's all I have to say about that"

I put my opinion on paper in a quite lengthy post a week or so back so I wont go into it again. Suffice it to say this is not in response to employee pay raises. I think that position is slightly narrow in focus.

Disney is a public company and chastising them for being profit driven is pointless. While I celebrate Walt and think he was the best thing that ever happened to Disney, without Roy there would be no Disney today and the company would have long since been bankrupt. I personally dont think Walt was capable of financially keeping the company running on his own. He was dedicated to an ideal that we all love and it is easy to defend.

But like the rest of the country is adjusting it's standard of living, we have to adjust our expectations. Maybe the economy will recover soon (doubt it) an Disney will see a boom that will result in expanding services. But in the meantime I believe we will see more cuts that are inconvinient and out of line with our Disney vision.

I sort of look at this announcement as purely a maintenance decision. I've seen the magic Kingdom monorail down more this past year than I've ever seen it before.

During our most recent trip in June I witnessed twice the Tow and rescue device pulling the monorail to safety. I also saw the resort monorail OOS (out of service). There's some sort of maintenance problem going on with the monorail. They need the extra time to fix it. Once they get the issue(s) resolved I bet they'll restore the monorail to normal working hours.

I really hope Aaron's right! The monorail, especially in the last year, has been down a lot from the complaints I've seen on twitter, etc. I'm hoping those paying to stay "on the monorail" will definitely take the time to complain and complain loudly!

I really hope Aaron's right! The monorail, especially in the last year, has been down a lot from the complaints I've seen on twitter, etc. I'm hoping those paying to stay "on the monorail" will definitely take the time to complain and complain loudly!

I'll be interested to see how this affects our stay at the Poly in Sept. I was so looking forward to just hoping on the monorail & not renting a car, not dealing w/buses for Wine & Dine 1/2 marathon & getting back to our hotel effortlessly. I will keep an open mind (not an open wallet), especially when in comes to safety, however...I have my contact info ready

While I know EEMH keep the parks hoping, I've also witnessed that many, many guests pour out of MK after Wishes & Electrical Parade even on days they have EEMH. Don't get me wrong, I'm the first to complain if WDW does something I don't like but this change isn't earth shattering in my mind. It's not like they are eliminating all transportation for those choosing to stay in the park for EEMH. Even when I stayed at BLT this past January, we frequently chose to walk back from MK rather than take the monorail. Additionally, on a few occasions, we've parked at EPCOT and after being at MK for the evening rode the monorail back to EPCOT and the monorail was empty. Maybe it's just a matter of putting resources where they can be utilized fully.